There's No Barrier
by barkimafish
Summary: Because the two can be exceptionally stubborn, Steve Rogers and Peter Parker don't spend much time alone together. But trust is something that's strengthened with shared experiences, and such experiences would occur whether the teammates were prepared for them or not. For Peter and Steve, it was a seemingly non-threatening car ride into the city. ONE-SHOT.


**A/N: I read (and write) so many Tony Stark and Peter Parker fics. It's a little ridiculous.** **However, I don't see many fics of Steve Rogers and Peter Parker outside of the Stony tags. I mean, sure, Tony and Steve are cute parents in those pieces, but I want more fics that describe Steve and Peter outside of that context.**

 **((In fact, if you write/read any Steve/Peter fics outside of Stony, I would love if you put the titles in the comments for me to read!))**

* * *

Because he grew up in the city, Peter was good at navigating public transportation, and after perfecting his web shooters he was even less motivated to learn how to drive. Why would he bother to cram into a tiny car and spend hours per day stuck in traffic when he could swing across the cars, feel the rush of wind at his sides, and capture the view of the city from the rooftops?

But then he started spending more time with Tony Stark, and, boy, did that guy have a lot of cars. Sure, they were mostly sports cars, but they were nice, expensive ones. The first time that Mr. Stark drove instead of Happy, he took Peter upstate to spend the weekend at the compound for some training exercises. They had left on a Friday night, and the highways were miraculously clear of traffic, so they were practically flying down the road. After Peter reconciled with the fact that his mentor was not going to follow the speed limit at any point nor cause a crash, the teen let himself relax against the leather. He watched the world pass them faster than it ever did when he swung through the skyscrapers in the city. By the time they arrived at the compound, Peter decided that he would learn how to drive.

About a year later, Peter was telling this story to Steve Rogers as he tried to convince the captain to relinquish the wheel in the garage of the Avengers' compound.

"Plus, I've had my license for over a month now, and you've never even seen me drive!" Peter pleaded across the roof of the car, not wanting to get in until he had used every last argument against Rogers. Because Peter could be as stubborn as the older Avenger, the two didn't always get along. It was moments like this that led Peter to avoid spending too much alone time with the Captain Rogers.

"Peter, now isn't a good time: I promised Tony that we'd be at the restaurant by seven," Steve said. Truthfully, he wasn't enthused to be driving all the way into the city for the social event. It was some meet-and-greet thing, and the rest of the team was arriving individually. Why Peter didn't go with Tony earlier, Steve didn't know.

"I can drive fast enough! I know how to drive on a highway, you know," Peter nodded and crossed his arms to emphasize his confident tone. "You always tell us to trust our teammates, Cap!"

Steve sighed and rolled his eyes. Throwing his hands up in surrender, he finally conceded. "Alright, Pete, you win. You can drive, okay?"

"YES!" Peter jumped into the air and slid across the hood to grab the keys.

Steve chuckled. As stubborn as the kid was, he knew why Tony liked having him around. Not only did his intelligence rival the billionaire's, but Peter's youthful enthusiasm fueled the team of veteran Avengers.

Not long after the seatbelts clicked, Peter had successfully merged onto the highway toward the city.

"See, I'm a good driver!" Peter insisted.

"Yeah, you're doing great but keep your eyes on the road. It's not well-lit around this area and there's no barrier between the opposing lanes," Steve advised. He had to admit that the kid was a good driver. Their speed was steady albeit fast, he flicked off his high beams in the presence of other cars, and he used his turn signals for every lane change. Nevertheless, Steve couldn't calm his nerves enough to stop giving unsolicited advice.

"Yeah, I got it," Peter reassured, dismissively. Instead, he reached over to turn up the volume. "Oh, man, I love this song."

Steve grimaced as he watched the teen bop his head to the beat. He really didn't understand pop music these days. "Two hands on the wheel," Steve nearly shouted over the thumping of the bass.

Fortunately for Rogers, the song was interrupted by ringing. Peter turned the volume down, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and glanced at the caller ID. "Oh, it's Mister Stark. Here, you can answer it," he said, offering the phone to Steve.

"Okay, um, let me see," Steve mumbled, holding the phone in one hand and tapping the green circle on the touchscreen with his other.

Noticing his struggle, Peter explained, "No, you have to slide it over. Actually, I'll just do it." Facing the road, he blindly reached for the phone and swiped to accept the call. "Hey, Mister Stark!"

"Okay, I got it. Don't talk and drive," Steve whispered. Into the phone, he greeted, "Hi, Tony."

"Tell him I'm driving!" Peter said excitedly.

"Peter's driving," Steve passed along. "Yeah, he's doing great…Yes, we're on our way… I know it starts at seven-thirty…"

Smiling, Peter added, "Tell him how‒ woah!"

Just then their heads slammed back against the seat and the only sounds that made it to Stark were the screeching and grinding of metal against metal.

* * *

 _C'mon, Steve, open your eyes._

 _Find Peter._

 _Open your eyes and find Peter._

Still secured to the car by his seatbelt, Steve was sure that he had been unconscious for a few seconds, but he couldn't bring himself to look at their situation. For one, his head hurt like hell. But he was also afraid to find Peter.

 _What if he's dead?_

Steve cracked his eyes open.

In his line of vision, he couldn't see anything but metal. It might've been the hood of the car or maybe their car split and the metal belonged to the other car. Regardless, it wasn't Peter.

"Peter!"

There was no response. Steve tried to calm himself by thinking that the kid was just knocked out.

 _New plan: move first then find Peter._

Because he was looking for the teen, Steve tried to turn his head first. Despite the headache, he could turn it side to side, but it was too dark to see anything. So, he tried his arms. His left was pinned down, but he discovered that his right was still clutching Peter's phone, or the remnants of it. He had clenched his fist so hard during the collision that it broke in his hand. Deeming it useless, he let it drop to the ground littered with glass.

Having inhaled deeply to brace himself, the super soldier pressed his right hand against the metal that was trapping his left arm.

Steve was breathing heavily now. The movement seemed to release the pain that he had been ignoring, and it flared across his entire body.

 _Move and find Peter. You need to find Peter._

Forcing himself to ignore the pain once again, he successfully freed himself from both the metal and his seatbelt. He proceeding to lift himself out of the car via the crumpled frame of his car door window and to fall to the asphalt with a thud.

For a minute, Steve just laid there, panting and holding back nausea. Not for the first time, he cursed this particular route for not having more street lights. His new viewpoint was of the front of their car whose front end was crumpled like an accordion under the trailer of an eighteen-wheeler. Although it crashed into the trees that lined the sides of the road, the trailer was still on its wheels. In fact, the entire tractor trailer looked like it could drive away as if nothing had happened.

Rogers flipped onto his stomach so he could use his arms to stand upright. He tried to call again, "Peter!"

"Cap?" The teen responded weakly from the area of the car closest to the trailer.

"Peter?!" Steve's heart rate picked up as he approached the car, looking for an entryway to young Avenger.

"Cap! I'm here!" Peter shouted. He was wide awake, but he couldn't move. "I-I can't move! I th-think something is broken."

"It's okay: I'm coming. Hang tight!"

Because Peter's door was totally crumpled beneath the truck and the hood of the car had bent to cover the windshield, Steve decided to try the roof. Climbing onto the back of their car, he discovered that the roof was caved in which explained why Steve hadn't been able to see Peter earlier. After assessing the state of the roof, Steve told Peter, "I'm going to rip the roof off and pull you out of there, okay?"

"Okay."

Steve rubbed his hands together to warm them up for a better grip and rolled his shoulders. If he could stall a flying helicopter, then he could bend a car roof even in his current, painful condition. He carefully edged himself forward to grab a piece of the roof that had split from the exterior of the car. Heaving through the pain that shot through his arms, he wrenched the piece towards himself. After a few minutes, it was removed enough for the top of Peter's head to be visible.

Now with a clearer view of Peter's situation, Steve frowned. Everything was so dark, but he wasn't so sure anymore that he could lift Peter out of the car. The teen was held fast by his side of the car and the front end, plus the weight of the trailer pressing everything down. Slumping a bit in exhaustion, Steve sighed. "Pete, I don't know if I can get you out of here."

"What?!" Peter exclaimed.

"I can't do this all by myself," Steve rushed to explain, "I'm afraid of moving something and making this worse for you. We might need to wait for emergency responders."

"No, no, no, Steve, you-you gotta get me outta here," Peter begged. He couldn't stop thinking of the last time he felt pinned down like this by the building that the Vulture collapsed on him. The memories alone were bringing all of his pain to the forefront of his mind, and he felt himself slipping into hyperventilation. "Steve, Cap, d-d-don't," he spurted out between gasps. "The-the building, the Vul-Vulture, I‒"

Steve had never seen Spider-Man in such a panic before, not in training sessions and not even on missions. He had heard about the teen's solo fight without his Spider-Man suit, but Steve never realized how scarred the kid was from it. He was always so strong and upbeat. "Peter, it's alright. I'm right here. Breathe for me," Steve said, keeping his voice steady and soft despite his own grunts of pain. He reached down into the car towards the kid to touch his hair in an effort to comfort the boy.

While he tried to focus on Steve's hand which continued to gently comb through his hair, Peter suddenly held his breath to focus on a different sense. "Steve, something's coming," he managed to whisper as he exhaled.

Rogers whipped his head to look around for an oncoming car or anything, preparing himself to fight, but the jerking motion made his vision blurry and brought forth a fresh wave of nausea.

"The sky," Peter directed. Unable to move his head, he couldn't do much more to help other than try to remain calm.

"M-hm," Steve accepted, trusting the younger Avenger's so-called spidey-senses. He turned his head to look above them. When his vision cleared, he finally spotted the thing in the sky that was rushing towards them like a meteor.

In seconds, the thing was landing beside the wreckage. Unfortunately, the bright lights were the last straw for Steve. He rolled over to face away from Peter and vomited down the passenger side of the car. Just as he was about to fall off the roof entirely, the figure lunged towards him.

"Woah, Cap, I thought you couldn't get drunk," Iron Man joked, trying to ease his own nerves as he caught Rogers mid-fall.

"Mister Stark?" Peter called from inside.

Setting a dazed Steve on the ground, Tony reassured, "Yeah, it's me, kid." Hovering above the car to get a better look at the scene, he asked, "Can you hang on for a moment? I'll be right back."

Stark approached the cabin of the trailer to assess the truck driver. Taking one look at the man, Tony turned away. There was nothing he could do for that driver.

With a few strokes of lasers, Tony cut Peter out of the mess. By the time he was carefully lifting him from his seat, the emergency response teams had arrived.

* * *

A few days later, Steve sat in a wheelchair by the side of Peter's hospital bed. A few other Avengers crowded the rest of the room to hear the boy speak.

"I saw it coming. I tried to swerve out of the way," Peter said seriously.

"That explains how you hit the middle of the thing. If you hadn't swerved, the truck might've run you right over," Tony muttered.

"That's enough, Stark," Peter's Aunt May said sharply. She reached over to comfort her horrified nephew. "Everything's okay, sweetie. You did a good job."

"What happened to the other driver?" Peter asked.

"He had a stroke which is what caused him to veer off the road and into oncoming traffic," Bruce started to explain. "It was‒"

"He didn't make it," Nat finished bluntly.

After a few minutes in solemn silence, Peter asked Steve, "Can we talk, like, alone maybe?"

Steve nodded. "Sure, can you all give us a minute?"

As they shuffled out, Bucky said to Steve, "After you're done, I should take you back to your room, okay? Sam is stopping by."

"Yeah," Steve consented. Once the door closed, he turned to the teen. "It's good to see you awake."

Peter looked down at his left leg where he had surgery. He didn't want to think of the details, but Bruce reassured him that his enhanced body would be able to make a full recovery. Looking back at the captain, he said, "I'm so sorry. I should've‒"

"Hey, none of that," Steve interrupted. "You're a good driver, Peter. Tony's right: it could've been a lot worse if you hadn't reacted as quickly as you did."

Peter bit his lower lip. "Thanks, I guess," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'll be fine. I have a bad concussion, but nothing broken, thankfully," Steve answered honestly.

"Yeah, me, too. I think," Peter whispered. "About the concussion part."

Steve chuckled.

"Hey, Cap?"

"Yes, Peter?

"Did you tell anyone about when I was stuck in the car?"

"No, I didn't"

"Could you…not tell anyone about that?"

Steve smiled sympathetically at the young vigilante. He knew Peter was referring to his panic attack in the car and to telling one person in particular. It made Steve wonder if Tony had ever opened up to his mentee about his own struggles with anxiety and triggering situations and if he should encourage the engineer to do so. Regardless, he laid a hand on one of Peter's and said, "Okay, I won't tell him."

Peter visibly relaxed from the relief that washed over him.

"But Peter? Maybe we can talk about it later, when you're feeling better? I don't like the idea of you suppressing that. We all have painful memories, but we're here for each other. Like I always say: you can trust your teammates."

"Thanks, Steve." Peter smiled. They would be spending more time together in the upcoming months while recovering, but Peter was starting to think that it wouldn't be so bad after all.


End file.
